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Kevin McAuliffe (spaaacecase)
Background Kevin McAuliffe was one of the astronaut candidates in Aperture Science's Space Program. His father was one of the pioneers of the program who was lost on the first mission and Kevin had always promised to follow in his father's footsteps. He was young, intelligent, and scored high on all of the tests Aperture threw at him... except one. He was diagnosed with acute agorophobia and struck from the program. In an attempt to prove the Committee wrong Kevin locked himself in the Space Simulation Room in an attempt to prove he could overcome his fear of open spaces. Unfortunately he did too thorough a job of it and instead of being in there for a few hours, it took several days for anyone to find him. By this point Kevin was convinced that the sun and the planets were speaking to him and that it was imperative he go to space to meet them. The Committee disagreed with his assessment and when he tried to convince his fellow candidates how important it was for him to get to space, they wouldn't listen. He had introduce three of them to the sun (the incinerator) before he was caught. Given Aperture's usual "efficiency" at turning a problem into a solution, it was decided that rather than jailing Kevin for murder, he would be fast-tracked into the core transfer program, thus solving two problems at once. Or so they hoped. Personality Kevin is prone to mood swings. While he's generally bright and friendly, he can be quick to anger, especially when people fail to share his joy in the wonders of space. He's always trying to recruit people to go back to space with him and gets upset when they try to decline. A number of people have wound up dead as a result of this, but so far he's managed to avoid coming to official attention. So far his encounters with his former "space buddies" have not gone well. Despite actually having been to space with him, none of them seem interested in going back; a fact that Kevin has a hard time understanding. It upsets and angers him and at times leaves him utterly despondent. A rejection of space is a rejection of him, and while space tries to keep him company in his head he still craves contact with other people, be they human, robot, or "alien" (his blanket term for pretty much anyone that isn't human or robot). His basest desire is to be part of a family again, something he thinks will only be possible when he gets back to space... where his father is. In Aperture Kevin himself isn't clear on how he got back from space or how he wound up back in his human body. All he remembers is "waking up" one day to find that he was stuck on Earth again in a different shape than the one he'd been in in space. It took him a while to re-acclimate and get used to the quirks of having a human body again. He did manage to find some clothes (not too bloodstained), but his socialization skills left a lot to be desired. His encounter with Whitney didn't go as well as he had expected it to. He had trouble with the feminine shift and continues to refer to her as Wheatley, but when she evidenced fear at the idea of returning to space and tried to get away from him, he got frustrated with her and tried to make her see sense. Fortunately his attempt was interrupted and she was able to get to a repair bay. At first his time with Riley seemed to be going well. She took him in, made sure he was fed, and seemed to b just as enthusiastic about space as he was. She even introduced him to Sirius, a core-gi who reminded him a lot of himself. Eventually, however, Riley started to balk and suggested that she should stay behind as part of Kevin's ground crew rather than going to space with him. She also rejected the idea of being part of his family. He took the news hard and left her rooms, wandering heartbroken through the halls until he wound up in Old Aperture. He managed to feed himself, when he could remember to eat and could find food that wasn't too spoiled, but he wasn't in very good condition at that point. Finding an observation room within Aperture's abandoned aquarium seemed like a homecoming at first. Kevin felt like he was surrounded by "space" and swimming aliens, but he became so obsessed with watching space all the time that he forgot to eat or otherwise take care of himself. When he eventually tore himself away, he was dying of dehydration and starvation. He stumbled into the motherly, tentacled figure of (Mm) who took him in and nursed him back to health. He's stayed close to her since then. He witnessed, but was unable to stop the street gang from attacking "Space Mom" and stealing her goods. While she was recovering from her injuries he found a piece of rebar and went hunting for them; the first time he had actively set out with the intention of harming anyone. He found them and managed to kill a couple and scare the others off, but took two arrows in the fight (neither to his knee). He gathered up their stolen loot and dropped weapons and headed back to Space Mom, who scolded him before calling in a nurse to tend to his injuries. After much sleep and a healing brew left by the Nurse, Kevin is feeling much better and seems to be content to stay with Space Mom until he gets the call that it's time to go to space. Category:Characters